In an effort to explore the Pokemon TCG community, “Social Saturdays” strives to better explain or understand important aspects of the community's player base.
(Chansey's reaction upon seeing the entry for "Full Throttle")
SOCIAL SATURDAYS: ENCYCLOPEDIA HTANICA, Volume I
About Encyclopedia HTanica
There are certain terms and abbreviations in the Pokemon TCG community that are common knowledge. However, to many newer players these are as good as an indecipherable foreign language. In this inaugural edition of Social Saturdays, we'll be defining some of those commonly used terms and abbreviations which define the "lingo" of Pokemon TCG. With very limited exception, we are avoiding placing player or card names as individual entries.
Encyclopedia HTanica is far from complete! Since this is a Patriarch-authored entry, we'll be hearing and evaluating future suggestions for terms that should be included in a future edition. So feel free to discuss on the boards or just message me.
THE LIST
6P: Short for SixPrizes, a competitive Pokemon TCG website focused primarily on premium subscriber content. Has a separate scans website called pkmncards.com.
Bad Deck Monday: a weekly stream/YouTube segment run by The Top Cut (see below) featuring a strange or unusual deck concept.
Battle Roads: Small local tournaments initially worth significant points, but scaled down over time.
Beach: Short for Pokebeach, a Pokemon website focused primarily on Pokemon TCG news. Has a premium subscriber program.
Bubble: To miss on a top cut by a single spot; also applies to swiss-only events where a person misses out on prizes due to opponent’s resistance.
City Championship (defunct): A smaller, area-wide event. Largely replaced by League Cups (see below).
CotD: Card of the Day, or discussions of single cards meant to produce new content for websites. Popularized by Pojo.com in the late 1990s, and still frequently used by websites like 60cards.
Day Two: The second day of play in a large event. Usually comprised of 32 players.
DCE: Double Colorless Energy
Donk: A lucky, fast win. Originally applied only to turn one wins, but has since been interpreted less rigidly.
Grinder (defunct): Last chance qualifier tournaments which granted top finishers entry into the Pokemon TCG World Championships from 2002-2014. As of writing, these are no longer held.
HeyFonte Classic (see Virbank City Gym): Facebook group organized in the early 2010s meant to offer a a hub for HeyTrainer and LaFonte users. Ultimately resulted in the siphoning of Pokegym users.
HeyFonte Modern (active): Facebook group organized in the mid-2010s meant to offer a competitive replacement or Virbank.
HT: HeyTrainer.org, of course!
LaFonte (mostly defunct): a private message board turned private Facebook group comprised of several successful Pokemon players and their friends.
League Challenge: A small local tournament worth marginal prizes and points. Also the spiritual successor to Battle Roads.
League Cup: A smaller, area-wide event. Also the spiritual successor to City Championships. Confusingly has the same acronym as League Challenges.
Mapping: The ability to narrow down the contents of Pokemon TCG booster packs in a sealed booster box based on a pattern. Highly controversial, but largely exaggerated in its seriousness and primarily used by goons for clickbait. The louder cousin to Scaling(see below).
Mid-season rotation: a special incident in June of 2011 when Play! Pokemon determined that a format rotation was necessary prior to the U.S. National Championships.
Modified: Refers to the modified-set formatting imposed by Play! Pokemon official events, excluding certain older sets from use. Currently divided into “Standard” (only the most recent sets) and “Expanded” (all sets beginning with Black and White).
OHKO: one-hit Knock Out.
OP: "Organized Play." Usually refers to the official Play! Pokemon, but can refer to local tournaments and alternate organized play such as ARG.
P!P: “Play! Pokemon,” the official event-organizing branch of The Pokemon Company International.
Poke-Dad/Poke-Mom: A parent of a competitive Pokemon Trading Card Game player — usually in one of the younger age divisions. Associated with non-competitiveness, although the game has at least two very successful Poke-parents as players.
Pojo: A competitive hobby website, once famous for its Pokemon page.
Pokegym: Pokemon Message board run by Team Compendium. See also WizPOG and Psylum's.
Prof-it: A mostly-defunct YouTube channel for Pokemon TCG content. Has since been incorporated into a part of the larger Jwittz YouTube channel.
Psylum's Pokegym: The original incarnation of the Pokegym (see above).
Scaling: The use of a scale to determine the contents of Pokemon TCG booster packs. Highly controversial, with most suspiciously good pulls posts met with a hearty "weigh to go!"
Swiss: Preliminary rounds preceding a top cut which pair opponents of similar win-loss records against one-another. Sometimes functions as its own tournament
Tag Team: The Father-Son mascots of HeyTrainer.org.
TC/Team Compendium: The group which makes and compiles rulings for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Their rulings are considered authoritative in all official events. Considered quasi-official by Play! Pokemon, you can see the current and past rosters here.
Top Cut: The final remaining players in a tournament who are paired in single-elimination match play.
The Top Cut (defunct): A once-prominent Pokemon TCG streaming and live-casting group. Also the original premium content website. Not to be confused with a tournament’s top cut (see above).
Top Deck: To draw the exact card you need.
Virbank City Gym: The modern incarnation of HeyFonte. Changed its name once the administration decided the page no longer reflected "HeyTrainer" or "LaFonte."
Whiff: To not draw into a crucial card you need.
WizPOG: "Wizards Pokegym," the official Pokemon Trading Card Game message board during the Wizards of the Coast days. See also Pokegym.